NASA Space Apps 2026 challenge
Harmonization of MODIS and VIIRS Hot Spots
Subjects: Earth Science · Software
Summary
Understanding how burning activity is distributed across our planet over time, including wildfires and agricultural burns intense enough to be detected by satellite sensors, enables us to anticipate critical periods, guide monitoring efforts, and improve fire response. Satellites have tracked active fire hotspots for more than two decades, but the record is split across sensors whose data cannot be compared directly, leaving fire managers without a consistent picture of when and where burning has occurred. Your challenge is to build a web application that harmonizes these records into a burning activity calendar based on active fire hotspots, enabling early warning and emergency responders, scientists, and land managers to examine historical fire patterns, unusual conditions, and critical periods within a selected area of interest.
The full challenge statement, with its data and resources, is published on 28 October. Until then, you can read this summary, talk it over with your team and plan, but the Space Apps rules say no work on the project itself before the hackathon starts.
From the NASA Space Apps Challenge. The official page is the final word on this challenge.